Austin Fontaine 
Megan Novelli 
It seems that there are as many theories available as people on earth. If you want to explain why anything, there is probably an existing theory to help you out. I would like to spend my blog post time in discourse on a theory that Dr. McAnulty mentioned in class in passing. I heard of this theory many years ago. I remember thinking at the time that it was an interesting theory and something I might be able to believe.
This theory, an extension of the young earth theory (which says that the earth is less than 10,000 years old—around 6,000—much younger than evolutionists believe it to be), is called the mature earth theory. This theory posits that God created a “mature earth” complete with layers of fossils. I find this theory very interesting. I assume that God created man as a mature being and the first animals as mature beings (else how would they have survived). If he did that, why would he have not created a mature earth.
Some people brush off the mature earth theory by saying that God is not a trickster. I would agree with that position, but I think that God knows humanity (as he created us). He knows that man loves challenges and mysteries. He knows that man wants to understand the world and the workings of it. Why wouldn’t he create a few mysteries for us to solve?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (New International Version)
The mature earth theory drives my husband crazy as he has a degree in Geology and is quite fond of dinosaurs. I am not ready to abandon all other theories to adopt this theory as my own, but I think it is an interesting theory. I think that there is no way to prove it, just as there is no way to prove it is not true or to prove that evolution, the big bang or any other creation theory is true. I think that as long as man is on this earth, there will be difference of opinion and a plentitude of theories.
Anne Weaver
10:47 am, 10.04.10
An interesting conversation came up between my roommate and I one a similar thread of conversation as this. We came to the part where we were discussing the “mysteries” God puts in place before us (and the topic had to do with evolution, creation theory, other theories, Gen 1 and 2, etc). I’m a firm believer in the “I don’t know theory” and that Gen 1&2 are meant to be first and foremost theology. It tells us who this God is that the next hundred and thousand pages of the Bible will try to reveal. It doesn’t speak for or against creation theory or evolution. It may have some specific truths in how the earth was made or it may be a collection of other myth put in such a way to refute all other gods except “Yahweh Elohim.” My roommate on the other hand said something like, “Why would God make this a mystery then? People struggle with this and loose their faith over this? Gen 1&2 is exactly how it happened isn’t it?” My response was God lets us struggle through any number of doubts. If we aren’t loosing our faith over the creation story then why does God let children die? We are allowed to wrestle with God as Jacob did, but we are told to have faith before, during, and after these times. And we will slip up and loose faith from time to time. We are not perfect. It is important to pick yourself back up though.
Rachel Jinkerson
12:01 pm, 10.04.10
I’m not a scientist and I’m not well versed in the ways of carbon dating, but I feel like the mature earth theory is very plausible. I think you made a very good point by saying that God created mature humans and animals. He did not just put seeds in the ground or make Adam and Eve into babies. Furthermore, I do not see it as God being tricky as much as I see him with a sense of humor. Maybe God, in all his power, knew that in order to survive we would need fossil fuels in the ground and such. I think its important to keep an open mind towards things like this.
Mary Tomkins
12:40 pm, 10.04.10
I like the way you present this idea. You do a good job of being open to new theories.
Something about this theory, though: you mention that God is giving us mysteries to figure out. Rachel said that he might just have a sense of humor. And I appreciate both of those things. But at the same time it makes me wonder if God would think it is worth it to do all that. I mean, there are a lot of people that don’t believe because of this. Granted, maybe he just wants us to take things on faith. Sometimes it’s just hard to see God as making a joke or giving us mysteries at the cost of souls.
Hannah Hendrix
12:48 pm, 10.04.10
Honestly, I put little stock in the mature earth theory. However, your statement that God made man and animals mature when he made them made perfect sense to me. If I really think about how I read the creation story, I always thought about man and animals being mature. Making them infants wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Just because he made man and animals mature, though, doesn’t necessarily mean he made the earth mature. I, like Ann, am a firm believer in the “I don’t know” theory. I happen to be quite glad that his ways are not my ways, nor his thoughts my thoughts. If they were, that sure would be a really boring, uncreative God. I like knowing that I don’t have to have all the answers.
Brandon Schmermund
6:20 pm, 10.04.10
I agree that this is something that I contemplate over often. It is crazy to think that God could have used evolution to create if he had wanted it to be that way. My whole life I have been told that Evolution was completely false but your post reminded me that God can do what he wants the way that he wants to and while I drift away from he idea of evolution, I understand that if God wanted to do it that way then he could.